29 September 2013

Uganda Cranes turn down Philippines invitation

By ANDREW MWANGUHYA

Kampala-Uganda will not take part in the Philippines Peace Cup due October after Fufa declined the invitation.

The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) extended invitations to Uganda and Rwanda for the four-nation Philippine Peace Cup in Bacolod City from Oct 11 to 15. They are also eying Burundi and Afghanistan.“We received communication but we didn’t confirm participation,” Fufa CEO Edgar Watson told Sunday Monitor, adding, “So we shall not participate.”

Watson did not offer any reasons for the decline. In his plans on the said Fifa dates in October, Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic intends to play a friendly and this would have come in handy.

Quality checkBut perhaps Fufa gauged the quality of opposition in the Phillipines Cup and decided against it.Uganda would have been the highest Fifa ranked team at the tournament at 77, with Rwanda – also yet to confirm participation – at 131. By Tuesday, only Chinese-Taipei had confirmed participation yet the PFF had set a Friday deadline to complete the cast for the tournament which is also meant to help defending champions Azkals prepare for the AFC Challenge Cup next year.